With any given project, Architects and Engineers have a limited budget and time frame to design within. What is often overlooked is that contractors also budget CAD services for coordination and fabrication of the design into their bids after the design is complete. By including a contractor from the beginning of the design phase, you can utilize their services and expertise to save time and money. The same is true for the contractor, by being involved from the beginning of the design phase, when the design is finished, so is the coordination and prefab planning of their work. This allows for a more cost effective and timely end result for the Owner, Architect, Engineer and Contractor.

This is especially true in retrofit and renovation projects, where prior to construction, contractors already spend considerable time doing field studies to model the project as accurately as possible. The difference is that this is usually done after the Architect and Engineer have already designed the project, and quite often previously unforeseen conflicts arise. These conflicts almost always cost the Owner, Architect and Engineer additional time, resources, and money, and unfortunately can lead to adversarial relationships that hurt the job itself.

In the Design-Assist process, the Architect and Engineer are free to focus on the design, and put the constructability and coordination responsibilities on the contractor from the very beginning. Likewise, because the contractor has a vested interest in the design, change orders and construction delays associated with unseen conflicts become a thing of the past. All while helping to insure a project that meets the goals of being built on time and within budget.